Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 52
After the first wave of attack failed, Zhang Ji withdrew his troops and retreated.

In fact, his attack was relatively hasty. After all, he escaped from the melee in Guanzhong, and the army was short of food.

Therefore, there was no time for him to prepare siege equipment along the way, and these ladders were temporarily built during the rest of Champion County in the past two days.

However, although there are not many ladders now, Zhang Ji has been ordering the craftsmen in the army to rush to make them. From yesterday to now, another night has passed, so there must be some in stock.

After retreating at this time, Zhang Ji urged the craftsmen in the army to ask them about the progress of the ladder manufacturing.Knowing that more than ten new ones have been built, let them send them for use first.

After resting for more than an hour, the desolate horn sounded again, and Zhang Ji reorganized a new wave of attack.

Soon everything that happened before unfolded again, and Zhang Ji successfully attacked the city.

After a long time of fighting, the time passed quietly, from the lunch time in the morning to the sun in the afternoon, countless figures suddenly appeared on the distant horizon.

Zhang Xiu is currently leading a group of people in the south of the city to create pressure in the city, and a scout team rushed to report to him.

"Report, Liu Biao's reinforcements are coming from the south."

The captain of the scout got off his horse and reported the matter to Zhang Xiu who was supervising the battle in the south of the city at this time.

Zhang Xiu was shocked and said, "How many people are there?"

"About 5000 people."

As professional scouts in the Xiliang Army, they looked from a high place on a hill, and they could know the approximate number of each other at a glance.

"Four 5000 people?"

Zhang Xiu pondered for a moment, then said to the generals around him: "Uncle is storming the city right now, it is a matter of our life and death, we must not give up halfway at this time, and be harassed by the enemy's reinforcements."

Hu Che'er on the side said: "General, what do you say, we will listen to you."

"Yes, General, tell me."

Everyone shouted.

Zhang Xiu was not only brave in person, but also avenged his ancestor Liu Jun in his early years and assassinated the enemy of the other party, and was praised by everyone for his loyalty. Since then, he has become a hero of Liangzhou with great prestige.

Therefore, in this Xiliang army, he is second only to Zhang Ji, otherwise he would not have become the commander of this Xiliang army.

Seeing that the morale of the crowd was good, Zhang Xiu looked around and said, "The enemy came in a hurry, and they definitely wouldn't expect us to take the initiative to attack, so it's better to gather dead soldiers and attack them head-on. What do you think?"

Jia Xu was actually not by Zhang Xiu's side at this time.

Jia Xu was attached to Duan Yan before, but later Zhang Ji's situation was not good, so he suggested that Zhang Ji go to Nanyang, firstly to save himself a way out, secondly because he and Zhang Ji were from the same hometown, and sold a favor to him. he.

It was not until the second half of this year that Jia Xu felt that Duan Yan was jealous of him, and that he was invited by Zhang Xiu to come to Nanyang.

So Zhang Xiu has no way to discuss strategies with Jia Xu, but he is not a mediocre person, he has followed Zhang Ji for many years, how could he not know how to fight?
He felt that although the enemy had reinforcements, the reinforcements had come all the way and must be quite tired, so a sudden attack at this time would definitely disrupt the enemy's formation and buy time for Zhang Ji.

Hearing his words, Hu Che'er immediately said: "General, what are you waiting for, kill me."

"Kill, kill, kill!"

The Xiliang army was very brave, even though Zhang Xiu only had more than 1000 people with him, he was not afraid at all.

Zhang Xiu said: "Uncle is attacking the city by the front army and the middle army, and the rear army is responding. We are small, and I am afraid that we will not be able to wipe out all of them. I plan to call the soldiers and horses from the north gate and the east gate. The total number is 3000. Hu Che Son, you go and lead another thousand troops, and when we rush to kill, attack from the flank, we must defeat the enemy."

"understand!"

Hu Che'er immediately led the order and galloped on the horse.

Zhang Ji's army is not large, no more than 1. Compared with Li Jue and Guo Si's [-] to [-] each, their strength is limited.

The number of soldiers needed to attack the city is even greater. Except for about [-] troops arranged at the other gates to exert pressure, the rest of the main force is at the west gate and storms towards Rangcheng.

The front army and the central army attack the city wall together as a commando, and the rear army has about 2000 people. As a support force, once the battle ahead goes wrong, in order to prevent the enemy from pursuing when retreating, the rear army can come up to cover the front. military.

This is a very conventional tactical arrangement. In addition to the support role, the rear army also has the role of supervising the battle, so they are all very elite veterans.

Hu Che'er rushed to the rear army and dispatched [-] troops under Zhang Xiu's order.

If it was someone else, it would definitely not work, but Zhang Ji has no heirs and has always treated Zhang Xiu as his son. This means that Zhang Xiu's status in the army belongs to the status of a successor, so he can completely mobilize the army.

Under his arrangement, in addition to the 5000 front and center troops led by Zhang Ji, the [-] harassment soldiers who put pressure on the north gate and east gate were also transferred.

In this way, he has 3000 people, plus Hu Cheer's transfer of a thousand rear troops, even if the strength is less than the opponent's reinforcements, it is enough.

Soon the army began to gather.

The Xiliang army from the north gate and east gate quickly approached Zhang Xiu's south gate, and their movements were quickly reported to Wenpin by the guards at the gates of Rangcheng.

"This must be the arrival of our reinforcements, and they have to choose to divide their troops to meet them."

Wenpin knew exactly what was going on.

The soldier asked: "Do you want to go out of the city to meet the reinforcements?"

"Just pass on the news of the reinforcements' arrival."

Wen Pin's face sank like water, the fighting strength of the Xiliang Army exceeded his expectations.

If they go out of the city and fight in the wild, it is impossible to be the opponent of the opponent.

Therefore, going out of the city at this time is a dead end.

Now I can only stick to the city and wait for news from the reinforcements.

"Another 300 people from each sect will be dispatched."

After thinking about it, Wenpin added another sentence: "Bring all the bows and arrows from other sects. At this time, one more person will give more strength."

"only."

Soldiers took orders.

Wenpin looked down at the Xiliang army swarming towards the city wall like ants in the city below, deeply feeling the strength of the enemy.

Over there, Zhang Xiu quickly gathered 3000 people and galloped towards the southeast.

It was Deng Ji's army that they encountered.

Deng Ji, Liu Wei, and Wang Jie set off almost at the same time after receiving the order yesterday.

But Huyang is closer to Rangcheng, and you can reach it after passing Xinye County in the northwest. The straight-line distance is only 60 kilometers, about 150 Hanli.

Fancheng, where Zhang Yun is located, is much farther away. The straight-line distance is more than 80 kilometers, about [-] miles, and the journey is just two days.

Therefore, although they all set off yesterday, Deng Ji's speed was much faster than Liu Wei and Wang Jie who set off from Fancheng, and arrived at the battlefield at noon the next day.

Deng Ji originally wanted to stay on the periphery first, and send scouts to check the situation in Rangcheng.

But the quality of scouts from the Jingzhou Army was far worse than that of the Xiliang Army's scouts.

The people he sent out were intercepted and killed by Xiliang army scouts in the field. Before he got a reply, his troops were discovered by Xiliang army scouts and reported to Zhang Xiu.

So up to now, Deng Ji didn't even know the situation over there, and he was still rushing to Rangcheng.

One is ignorant of the situation ahead, and the other is doing mental calculations without intention. Naturally, there is no suspense in this battle.

Zhang Xiu ordered the soldiers to hide in the forests and hills on the left and right sides of the official road from Xinye to Rangcheng. When Deng Ji's army was still marching normally, enemies suddenly came out from the left and right flanks.

Caught off guard, Deng Ji was defeated directly.

Seeing that the enemy was vulnerable, Zhang Xiu was overjoyed, and quickly ordered to continue hunting.

Although the Xiliang army was not all cavalry, Zhang Xiu still had more than 1000 cavalry troops. After several rounds of offensives, Deng Ji's army was almost killed and scattered.

The battle lasted less than half an hour, most of the time Zhang Xiu was chasing and killing Deng Ji.

After chasing for more than twenty miles, they stopped.

Because Liu Wei and Wang Jie are here.

The two had already seen Deng Ji's defeat from a distance, and looked at each other. Liu Wei sneered and said, "Deng Ji led the army on his own, and never took us seriously. They thought he was capable, bah."

"I saw that there were only two or three thousand people on the other side."

Wang Jie also sneered and said, "Only two or three thousand people defeated him. He is really incompetent."

"What should we do now?"

Liu Wei asked, "Can you save this guy?"

Wang Jie thought for a while and said: "Deng Ji is just a waste, he will die when he dies, but it will be bad if the army is wiped out. If he can defeat the enemy and save the defeated soldiers, wouldn't it be a great achievement?"

"you're right."

Liu Wei nodded, looked into the distance and said: "They are coming straight to the official road, we can detour and kill them from the left and right wilderness."

"it is good."

At the moment, the two discussed it and decided to outflank the left and right sides.

The Nanyang Basin can be said to be a flat river, except for plain forests and hills and hills less than 30 meters high, there are basically no other obstacles.

But there are many villages and fields, and some ditches and streams.

The official road is actually the road connecting the nearby villages and pavilions. It is not very wide, so it is actually very difficult to fight on the official road, and you can only go around from the open fields on both sides.

It's just that because of the wide field of vision, they can see the situation in the distance, and Zhang Xiu can also see it.

Seeing another reinforcement coming from the other side, the number of them was even larger than before, Zhang Xiu was also surprised, but it was too late for him to make another choice, so he could only grit his teeth and point to the right: "Run or you will die!" Hey, divide and attack, follow me to kill there first!"

"Kill!"

The wolf-like Xiliang army behind them let out a terrifying sound wave.

The reason for choosing the right side is because the left side is a village with a lot of fields and obstacles. Most of the Xiliang army are infantry, but there are still some cavalry.

If you go to the left, the cavalry is limited by farmland and villages, making it difficult to maneuver.

On the right is a plain grassland, which may have been a forest, but many trees were cut down by the people, exposing a large flat land, which is suitable for cavalry to gallop.

It has to be said that Zhang Xiu's military intuition is still very keen, and he found a way to use his strengths to attack the enemy's weaknesses in a short period of time.

The Xiliang cavalry did not charge, but lined up first and then shot arrows on horseback.

The cavalry in the Han Dynasty did not have stirrups, so their use was not on the frontal battlefield, but as a ranger and outflanking the two wings to cut the enemy's formation from the side.

After a few rounds of arrow rain, the Xiliang infantry went straight to kill the Jingzhou army on the right.

That's Wang Jie's army over there. Where has he seen the Xiliang army's field tactics?As soon as they met, they were stunned by those rounds of arrow rain.

You must know that it is the tradition of the Qiang people in Xiliang to shoot arrows first in battle. Ju Yi was born as a general in Xiliang, and he is proficient in the tactics of the Qiang people. The weight among Xiliang people.

After the rain of arrows, the two sides quickly fought hand to hand.

Although the brave Xiliang people were outnumbered, they were very brave and launched round after round of fierce attacks on the Jingzhou army without fear.

Zhang Xiu was the first one.

He had just chopped down two Jingzhou soldiers, the blood on the blade had not been wiped clean, and was preparing to continue the fierce battle, but found that the surrounding enemies were very afraid, and suddenly laughed grinningly.

There had been no wars in Jingzhou for many years, and these soldiers were obviously not as brave as the Xiliang army before the battle, so they rushed towards them again with a roar.

However, the Jingzhou army was indeed not as brave as the Xiliang army for many years, but they were three times the enemy after all. Seeing this, Liu Wei sent people to gather Deng Ji's rout, and began to attack Zhang Xiu's flank.

The battle between the two sides suddenly became fierce.

As the initial momentum was blocked, Zhang Xiu's army gradually lost momentum, and the iron man sometimes fell down, not to mention that they had been chasing Deng Ji for a long time, and their physical strength was a little weak.

Right now, the soldiers around fell one by one, and even Zhang Xiu himself was besieged by dozens of people and had to retreat.

At this moment, suddenly there seemed to be thousands of troops coming from behind, Hu Che'er roared: "General, Hu Che'er is here!"

"Reinforcements are here, kill!"

Zhang Xiu suddenly regained his spirits, summoned up his remaining courage to hack and kill, and stabbed to death two enemies who wanted to surprise him.

In fact, he had already lost a lot of troops, but what Hu Che'er brought was a new force, and after joining in, the decline was soon stopped. Seeing that the situation was not good, Liu Wei and Wang Jie hurriedly called for money to withdraw their troops.

The two sides retreated respectively, and Zhang Xiu dispatched 4000 people, and more than 1000 were killed or injured.

Liu Wei, Wang Jie and Deng Ji had a total of 3000 soldiers and horses, more than 2000 were killed or injured, and more than 2000 soldiers fled from Deng Ji. There were heavy casualties on both sides.

But at least the enemy was repelled.

Zhang Xiu immediately led the remnants to evacuate in the direction of Rangcheng.

On the way, Hu Che'er said to Zhang Xiu: "General, don't we take advantage of the victory to pursue?"

Zhang Xiu shook his head and said: "Our army is exhausted and can't catch up anymore."

"But what if they come after you?"

Hu Che'er was a little worried.

Zhang Xiu said with a smile: "They have been killed by us, and they will definitely not come in a short time."

Hu Che'er felt relieved: "That's good."

"Hu Che'er, what's going on with my uncle?"

Zhang Xiu asked.

"General Hussars is still attacking Rangcheng, and they are almost unable to resist."

"They can't resist anymore?"

"Yes, when I came, I saw General Hussars rushing towards the city wall."

"Hahaha, it seems that Nanyang will belong to us."

Zhang Xiu laughed and said to Hu Che'er: "You have made great achievements this time, and when you break the city of Rang, you will be rewarded. You can choose the gold and silver for the women in the city."

Hu Che'er was overjoyed and said, "Thank you, General."

are chatting.

Several cavalrymen suddenly came from a distance, and before they approached, they shouted: "General, General Hussars has died in Zhongliuya!"

"what?"

Zhang Xiu's face turned pale instantly, and his whole body shook slightly, as if he was about to fall off his horse.

(End of this chapter)